Nothing Left to Lose
by 2hearts1soul
Summary: In an empty room, a teenage boy rambles his way through a story. Stiles has one last task to finish because he has nothing left to lose. A one shot story of murder, grief and betrayal with an ambiguous open ending. Rated T for Swearing.


The kid was smirking. He was sitting in the bare holding cell with his hands cuffed, wearing the bright orange standard jumpsuit the team wore for any necessary decontamination procedure as his own clothes had been removed for thorough searching and evidence processing.  
But he was definitely smirking. Little punk. He was young, still a teenager. Short dark curly hair, pale skin dotted with moles and bright amber brown eyes on a thin but tall frame.

"Seriously Dudes, I'm gonna need to pee soon, can't we get this show on the road? Not that I care much about pissing in your clothes but the eternal goddess of my heart Lydia would have freaked if she thought I was combining yellow and orange."

His words were fast and the voice was young. Not a New York accent, Californian, northern maybe. JARVIS would pin point it soon.

The kid paused, eyebrows raised as if in encouragement but still there was no response. He shrugged his shoulders and the smirk got wider. "Your mess Dudes, clean up in aisle three imminent"

Then he lapsed into amused silence again as if he was waiting for... something.

"So what do we have on him? Why is he being detained? He's just a kid" The question was quiet but authoritarian. Shoulders were straightened and the Head of Security was about to respond when he was unashamedly interrupted.

"Hello Cap, Spider Man ring any bells? Being a kid does not mean he isn't dangerous" amused exasperation flowed out of the handsome bearded man in the Armani suit.

The big blond man flashed him a scolding look and then raised his eyebrows at Happy Hogan.

"He came into the building with just a back pack and asked to see Agent Romanova. He was given the usual spiel, no-one of that name yada yada, thanked the receptionist politely, said he would just wait until she was available and went and sat by one of the potted plants.

This kid is so polite, its creepy! Security escorted him out and he thanked them. Then as soon as their backs were turned he was in by the plant again.  
Five damn times the little punk got in and he was polite each time he was escorted out. He even apologised for being a bother! Five times! I am seriously retraining that shift." Hogan growled in displeasure

"Finally one of those guys had the bright idea to check his back pack and there was about six baggies of some unidentified substance. They are being checked out now. If it's illegal we will pass it on to the Locals but because he was so interested in Natalie er Ms Romanova we thought it was wise to detain him."

All the men turned towards the redhead who was studying the live feed with mild curiosity. "I have no idea who he is!" she shrugged indifferently and turned away to leave the room.

It was strange. The kid started talking again. Almost as if he had heard her. How could that be possible?

"I made her a promise you see. Might not mean much to you Guys, the promise of an eight year old kid to his dying Mom but when we Stilinskis make a promise we keep it."

To everyone's surprise, the Black Widow stopped and swung round to stare at the screen, the slightest of frowns smoothed away to leave her face impassive but she remained in place.

"She wasn't very lucid in the last days but she told me the story when she had some normal moments. Not sure why she thought telling her little kid made sense but more often than not she was back to being a little kid herself. The Red Room she called it, with all her little sisters. Kinda thought it was some Russian prep school. She wouldn't speak to my Dad about it. Just me. Always only me"

 _Silence fell in the interrogation room once more as the kid contemplated his cuffed hands with a wry smile._

Silence fell in the conference room as the eyes of the team swung from the Black Widow to the kid and back again. There was no expression on her face but for a second her lips tightened.

"So this promise. I had to find one of her sisters. One of the little girls from the Red Room. Her favourite. The youngest. Always was a sucker for little kids my Mom. The one with the most talent as a ballerina. Her dancing butterfly she called her. Redhead. Green Eyes. Name of Talia. Funny story about that name."

 _He scrunched up his nose, the moles on his face showing up starkly in the bright lights of the interrogation room._

"Or not so funny really. Name of the Mom of a friend of mine. She died in a fire with the rest of his family. Murdered because a fucking cult thought they were animals."

 _A sad smile crossed the young pale face_.

"Every time I've come across that name it's not been good. Not a lucky name. Tragedy seems to follow it. So Talia, littlest dancer. Little flutter by butterfly. Mom asked me to find her. Not much you can do about that when you are eight years old, grieving for your Mom and worried your Dad was going to climb into a bottle and never come out of it. So sorta put the promise away in my head like a cherished but damaged possession or toy that couldn't be played with anymore."

 _The kid paused, then a same grin lit his face_

"Dudes Toy story killed me. Do you know how many times I sneaked up on my toys to catch them speaking? Really wanted to catch them singing but speaking would have been cool too."

 _He sighed, voice losing that amusement as he continued_

"I got older, life got weirder and then Aliens invaded. Possession 9/10ths of the law Dude. Know all about possessions, being possessed and kicking ass. But hey it rattled the cherished possession loose and gave me something else to think about instead of furry despair, death and destruction.  
A promise is a promise right. Captain America should know all about that. Hope you get your happy ending Cap really do. Since your bromance caused so much damage, it's got to be worth it for one guy right? Right?  
I mean dumping those freaky flying machines, er helicarriers in the Hudson sure was a way to get people's attention. Certainly got mine. Then the whole "leave no stone unturned" info dump from SHIELD's creepy databases just made most of the super sad Dorks I know sing the praises of the Lord. Converted them wholesale to religion because it had to be a sign from God. Hey Danny Babe you know who I'm talking about!"

 _Again genuine amusement lit the kid's face for seconds but then he settled back into an inelegant sprawl in the chair_ _as he drew breath to continue his rambling rant._

"As a Google-fu master it was kinda fun for a while but then I set my little customised search programme going. Wasn't nothing special. Not earth shattering. Not even super sneaky clever really. Just a name, one name."

 _For a second pain flashed across the kid's face._

"I mean, being able to access that kind of info for my Mom, hell yeah. Had to be done"

 _A sudden frown crossed his face:_

"Don't mind me, just got to side-track for a minute."  
 _  
The kid snorted with outright laughter as if he was well aware of his ramblings._

"Irony. Great word, even funnier when you practise it on yourself. Anyway, one actual honest to God deliberate side-track first. See, trawling through that data I kind noticed something so I put together an evidence board like a boss dudes, for all the Agency's undercover and not so undercover staff that were ending up on obituary lists. Anyway out of curiosity, did you brave heroes actually think about all the agents and their families you were endangering with that info dump? I mean you singlehandedly probably caused the deaths of more people than the fucking dreaded hinky Hydra and they had been planning it for decades Dudes. Sheesh who needs an evil villainous organisation when we have the Avengers right?"

 _The stern disapproval on the kid's face was startling._

Amusement crossed Stark's face at the offended expression on the Super Soldier. Kid had a point. Especially since it could have been avoided if the dynamic duo had used any gumption during that clusterfuck and contacted him.

"Hey ho off we go, all hail the might Avengers, save the world but damn the little people especially the ones who do all the grunt work without the glory. Know all about grunt work and no glory. That's what my Dad…"

 _he drew in a harsh halting breath and then spat with real anger_

"Swear to God you bunch of morons should be on a fucking leash. Ooops not the prevailing public opinion huh? Never mind it'll come back to bite you in the ass one day. That kinda thing always does. Take it from a genuine Cop's kid."

 _A pause again, a hitch in his breathing as if he just remembered something, tears filled those startlingly intelligent eyes._

"Well the kid of a deceased Cop. Lost him too as well as the rest of them. But made the bastards pay for it."

 _The almost feral grin smoothed out into that cold little smirk again and long dark eyelashes veiled the bright gleam in now dry amber eyes._

"I'll be honest with you Aunt Tali. I can call you Aunt can't I? Seeing as you and Mom were brought up as sisters. Murderous sisters but sisters for all that. I'll be honest with you Aunt Tali. This little quest was the last thing I thought I could do for my family. Don't have to watch my Dad's diet anymore to keep his cholesterol in check. Don't have to keep secrets to keep him safe. Suppose I can be proud it wasn't his heart that killed him. Yay, go me.  
Hunters. Illegal Hunters and their fucking blood lust took my Dad down. So I needed something else to do, to keep me focused. To stop me burning the fucking world to ashes around me. Didn't think I would find anything because that disease distorted everything for my Mom and I truly thought she was nutso you know. Degenerative frontal lobe dementia. Sounds as awful as it fucking is let me tell you. And then..."

 _The kid mimed a drum roll with his cuffed hands and made dun dun dun sounds before continuing with wide eyes and a mock gasp_.

"up popped the lovely aliases. Yelena Belova, Natasha Romanoff, Natasha, Tasha, Madame Natasha, Nancy Rushman, Laura Matthers, Nadine Roman, "Oktober", Black Pearl, Ebon Flame. But my favourite, my absolute all-time favourite…"

 _He paused for dramatic effect_

"Natalia Alianovna Romanova."

 _All expression left the kid's face, it was a lifeless cold empty void_.

"The woman my Mom wanted me to find, her little dancing butterfly."

 _Another pause but this one was filled with venomous rage_ _and the kid's eyes darkened to almost black.  
_  
"The woman who killed my Mom. The Black Widow who injected her pregnant sister and caused her to slowly die a cruel agonising death eight years later. Saw the files Aunt Tali. Saw them, read them and remember every word. I remember every word Mom spoke to me about it. Sitting there day after day watching my Mommy slowly lose herself and die. Every fucking word beloved sister to my mother. Every fucking word. But hey that probably won't last much longer so you don't need to worry. See the Doctors did some tests and I inherited the condition too Aunt Tali. When you murdered my Mom, you murdered me to."

 _The kid stopped talking. His face was blank, eyes far away in a different time. Until he drew a deep breath and ice cold determination swept away the blankness._

"So here I am Aunt Tali, come to deliver my Mom's message like the good son. I am doing it for that eight year old boy who would have promised his fucking soul to stop his Momma hurting but the only thing he had was his words."

 _He looked directly up at the opaque viewing mirror in front of him, his amber eyed gaze was clear and open then he uttered softly._

"I forgive you Natalia, I forgive you. I love you and forgive you".

"I don't think this is a good idea Tash" the Archer growled before the Captain could. She felt Stark's eyes on the back of her head but for once he said nothing. Banner had left the room when the kid had finished, a pale green tinge to his skin as he steadily refused to look at her.

"Look at him Clint, how is he a danger to me. He is just 140 pounds of pale skin and fragile bones"

She didn't allow the expressions in the eyes of her team mates to chill her as they once again recognised what she was capable of. They would deal with it as they dealt with every other revelation and move on. They were a team who looked at the bigger picture after all.

More "Red in her ledger". She had been an obedient tool for the Red Room, and Claudia hadn't. She had escaped, made a life for herself, even tried to persuade her to go also but Natasha had known that the Red Room would hunt the pair of them for eternity rather than allow two Black Widows to escape their web. She had warned Claudia that a Widow would come for her. Of course Natasha should have realised that the Red Room would send her.

Natasha obeyed her orders. Claudia couldn't even fight her, she was so heavily pregnant. She had thought that the drug would kill her immediately and hadn't gone back to check. But that task was the one that began to set her free from the Red Room conditioning.

Knowing Claudia's son had survived and now was facing death because of her was tearing apart what little heart she had left. She at least owed him a chance to berate her face to face. Not that she would ever voice that aloud.

The kid was silent and had slumped down again. As if expelling all those words had used up whatever energy he had left. Young and so vulnerable.  
He stiffened as the door opened and closed behind someone entering but he refused to lift his head. The clip of high heeled boots as they came towards him was the only sound in the room.

"I am Natalia" the musical feminine voice almost sounded regretful.

There was an oddly satisfied exhale of breath from the kid, then he said softly enough for her to lean forward slightly to hear him

"Mom forgave you Aunt Tali but see here's the real kicker, I don't. And now I have nothing left to lose"

The Black Widow began to frown.

The kid slowly raised his head. A deep menacing growl reverberated around the room.

Natasha Romanova was startled to see glowing blue eyes staring at her with unblinking predatory hatred.

* * *

An: No infringement intended.

Poor Stiles, I killed everyone off and left him alone as a werewolf. When he got the bite it cured the disease but he didn't care. As far as he was concerned Natasha literally murdered both he and his Mom. And he has nothing left to lose


End file.
